Tuesday, January 6, 2009

"Hana yori Dango" gets fresh start on Korean TV

by Chris MaGee

All of us knew that with the Japanese TV and movie adaptations of Yoko Kamio's shōjo manga "Hana yori Dango" being so wildly popular (and financially lucrative) that last year's "Hana yori Dango: Final" big screen send off wouldn't be the end, but who could have predicted that it would be across The Sea of Japan in South Korea? I certainly couldn't, but according to Anime News Network not only have the adventures of lower-class Tsukushi Makino and her gang of rich boyfriends been turned into a brand new television series on the KBS, Korean Broadcasting System network, but the show has broken ratings records by premiering on January 5th with a 14.3% share of the TV audience.

The new show's producer, Jun Ki-sang, has obviously swapped out the original Japanese cast with a group of hot young Korean actors headed up by 24-year-old Ku Hye-sun as Tsukushi and is marketing the show as a "a trendy romantic drama". Will we see Korean movies of this new cast? Where else will we see screen adapations of Kamio's manga? I guess that remains to be seen, but like I said, as long as the money train keeps pulling into the station don't expect an end to "Hana yori Dango" any time soon.

For more on the new series check out this article at Animation Insider.